James C.
ChristensenFeatured
Artist

Fantasy Artist James C. Christensen was born September
26,1942, in Culver City, California, a small city surrounded by Los Angeles and permeated by the movie industry. MGM's Lot Three was only a few blocks from his childhood home. Christensen first
encountered the elusive distinction between reality
and the realistic illusion while sneaking with friends
onto the backlot after dark. "We'd slip over the
fence and into an Old West town, San Francisco
during the gold rush or Chinatown, but then walking behind them we'd see that it was all two-by-
fours. All that realistic illusion made a big impression on me."

Drawing was a favorite activity, but Christensen didn't
study art in high school. He thought he'd grow up
to be a banker like his dad. As graduation neared,
however, he realized that the little drawings in the
margins of his notebooks were far more important
than the notes themselves.

James studied art at Santa Monica City College
for a year before entering mission service for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For two
years, he traveled in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and
Uruguay as one of several young musicians who were part of a church musical group.

In 1964, James Christensen enrolled at Brigham Young University to study painting and drawing. In his third
year, he transferred to UCLA, a move that had much
to do with the presence of a young university employee, Carole Larsen. But the romance hit a few
potholes, and James returned to BYU. Happily, time
and distance worked their magic, and James and
Carole were married a few months later.

In 1967, James finished his undergraduate degree
and began work on his master's. Carole gave birth
to their first child. In the autumn of 1968, after
receiving his master's degree, James accepted a job
as a junior high school art teacher for the Santa
Maria, California, school district.

"Those were tough years"
Christensen says. "I was just trying to
make a living, combining teaching, workshops and
commercial illustration and portraits. We'd also
offer artwork in sidewalk art shows. If we sold a
framed and matted lithograph for $30, we felt lucky.
Through those years, I always had my 'guilty pleasures'-my sketchbooks-where I could draw people with fish for heads, or wings, or just funny-looking creatures." It was on those pages that a new
style began to emerge.

After five years at Isaac Fesler Junior High School, Christensen left
teaching and devoted himself to painting, supporting his family
with freelance commercial illustration and portraiture. In 1974,
when he was offered a job as a designer for the LDS
Church's magazine The New Era, he moved with his
family to Utah. There he continued to develop his
fantastical style.

In 1976, the American Society of Illustrators presented James
Christensen with a merit award for his work "The
Invisible Door" an allegorical image about death
and the afterlife. This painting gained special importance because it was a fantasy work that was recognized by the art community. Also in 1976, James
was offered the position of assistant professor of art
at Brigham Young University.